CHAPTER 120: CHAPTER 119 AFTERMATH

"Young people need to work hard and not think about crooked paths. Look at me, I’m so wealthy, and it’s all thanks to my astonishing willpower, wise vision, and resilient perseverance. Capital without ability equals zero."

"But you’re quite a fighter. In the future, work diligently, and occasionally, I’ll call you to be a bodyguard."

On the way back, Mu Qingmei recalled the words Jing Zhengwei had said to her, her expression fluctuating.

After a bloody battle today, Jing Zhengwei ’generously’ allowed her to leave work early and rest at home. As for Mu Qingmei’s tailing him, Jing Zhengwei seemed to think Mu Qingmei wanted to offer herself to him, which made Mu Qingmei want to punch someone.

Thus, Jing Zhengwei immediately reprimanded Mu Qingmei for such improper thoughts, stating that there are many women who don’t want to work hard. He, the young master of the Jing family, is busy with myriad affairs by day and exhausted by night, with no energy left to take care of Mu Qingmei, this newly muscular editor...

However, Jing Zhengwei abruptly changed the subject. Seeing that Mu Qingmei, this folk expert, was such a good fighter, he would give her some private work, as Mi Die and Lisang occasionally couldn’t protect him.

"Learn literary and martial skills, sell them to rich families. Go back and think about the draft properly, don’t forget to submit the first draft tomorrow. Leaving work early doesn’t mean actually leaving work... Damn it, don’t let me find out who ambushed me..."

Jing Zhengwei urged her with a few words, then covered his bleeding butt wound, cursing as he walked away.

At first, Mu Qingmei was relieved that she managed to bluff her way through, but the more she thought about it later, the more something felt wrong.

She’s not an idiot, and she knows Jing Zhengwei isn’t one either.

Jing Zhengwei couldn’t possibly be unaware of what her level of martial artist means—whether it’s working as a henchman for a chamber of commerce or guarding the coastal defense with the Heyang Army, she could carve out a name and fortune for herself.

Moreover, she also noticed that Jing Zhengwei’s Biting Battle Technique had unexpectedly reached the level of integration and mastery, which didn’t match his age and identity, yet she’s barely heard any rumors about Jing Zhengwei being a battle technique expert, indicating just how deep his scheming is.

A powerful female martial artist joining a newspaper willingly as a small editor, sneakily trailing herself... While Mu Qingmei does consider herself pretty, she doesn’t think she’s stunning enough to cause others to lose their minds, at most just slightly better looking than Qing Lan, the editor-in-chief next to Jing Zhengwei.

How could Jing Zhengwei not suspect she had ulterior motives?

Thinking about it this way, Mu Qingmei realized that during the conversation earlier, the pace was led by Jing Zhengwei all along. He deliberately gave a ridiculous reason to let her off the hook, raising the issue of ’following’ her high but setting it down gently, even suggesting she could still come to work in the future.

What exactly does he want to do?

Is it because I saved his life, so he doesn’t care about my mysterious background and ulterior motives?

But according to rumors, Jing Zhengwei isn’t someone who clearly distinguishes between gratitude and grudges, always repaying kindness either.

Could it be that he sees me as young, charming, and a good fighter, and wants to recruit me?

Now that Mu Qingmei has calmed down, she’s carefully analyzing her own situation.

Firstly, Jing Zhengwei might suspect she’s a spy sent by some other force, but Xuanzhu County has many special forces like the Heyang Army, chambers of commerce, aristocratic families, Governor’s Mansion... so she hasn’t actually exposed her real background with White Night.

Following this logic, it makes sense that Jing Zhengwei hasn’t burned bridges, even extending an olive branch to her—these forces don’t have much hatred against Jing Zhengwei, in fact, they’re potential collaborators.

Now is a crucial moment in the Jing family patriarch battle, even if Jing Zhengwei can’t recruit external help, there’s no need to offend potential assistance.

After all, in Jing Zhengwei’s mind, White Night is class oppositional to him, how could people from White Night save him? Hence, Mu Qingmei is at least ’on his side of the class’.

Maybe Jing Zhengwei even wants to use her as a bridge to communicate secretly with the forces behind her.

Understanding the intricacies, Mu Qingmei comprehends why Jing Zhengwei’s actions are so unusual.

Burning bridges entirely would be a last resort. He was seriously injured at the time; if Mu Qingmei turned against him back then, he would most likely have suffered a bad end.

Instead, pacifying Mu Qingmei first, then whether to investigate, recruit, or even confront later, is better than having his Silver Blood body directly clash with Mu Qingmei’s stone resolve.

Mu Qingmei thought Jing Zhengwei was an idiot, but little did she know that Jing Zhengwei was leading her on like she was the idiot!

Is this what businessmen are like? Instantly understanding the relationships and weighing the gains and losses... Mu Qingmei couldn’t help but sigh. She’s not stupid, but still can’t compare to others’ cunning!

Although she’s always heard about how insidious and cunning Jing Zhengwei is, seeing Jing Zhengwei’s behavior in the newspaper, shouting ’Illustrations! Illustrations!’ like a spoiled rich kid, she couldn’t help but feel contemptuous.

Otherwise, how could she have dared to follow Jing Zhengwei so boldly?

Second brother Minghong underestimated Jing Zhengwei, losing an assassin martyr; Bai Yulan and her subordinates underestimated Jing Zhengwei, losing their lives; Mu Qingmei underestimated Jing Zhengwei and ended up being played for a fool by Jing Zhengwei!

Mu Qingmei walked along the street, suddenly ducked into an alley, and when she emerged, she had changed her clothes, altered her appearance, and even her wounds were healed.

Formless Battle Technique · Heart Fire.

Mu Qingmei naturally didn’t go to work as herself—Jing Zhengwei had already seen her when he sought out Yin Minghong before. Moreover, Mu Qingmei lives with Yin Minghong, if Jing Zhengwei found out, they’d all be doomed.

The White Night from Xuanzhu dispatched Mu Qingmei to infiltrate the newspaper because she possesses superb disguise skills.

The essence of ’Heart Fire’ comes from interior landscape battle techniques, aimed at allowing Formless martial artists to maintain mastery over their bodies at all times, self-therapy with light, combat healing, body strengthening, with the highest level even reaching the point of ’undying and unscathed’—at the moment of being attacked, the body has already completed healing!

Heart Fire, unquenchable, body unharmed!

Mu Qingmei hasn’t reached that level yet, but using heart fire for slight disguise is still no problem. There’s no need for a big change, just altering the facial muscles a bit, and she can transform from a graceful and elegant young lady to a vibrant and lively young lady.

However, this disguise can’t be used frequently in a short period, and the disguise time can’t be too long; it must be reverted before sleeping, otherwise...

Otherwise, the face will automatically revert.

In fact, Mu Qingmei’s talents are remarkably suited for espionage work, but her personality is really unsuitable; Xuanzhu White Night has rejected her multiple self-recommendations—rather than letting her stir up trouble, it’s better to have her practice at home.

Before Mu Qingmei went home, she pondered whether to report the events that just happened.

But Minghong had already returned to Red Moon Fortress, and she had the authority to adapt to circumstances when receiving tasks...

If she reported it, White Night might consider it too dangerous and terminate her mission...

Mu Qingmei deliberated for a long time and ultimately suppressed her minor thoughts and turned to find the liaison Medical Officer Wen Hong.

...

...

Bang!

Qing Lan forcefully pushed open the two doors of the bedroom, seeing Le Yu lying on the bed wrapped in gauze, leisurely reading a novel. As if a stone dropped from her heart, she gently sighed with relief and walked over, pursing her lips and saying, "Young Master, I’m back."

"Hmm, welcome back." Le Yu raised his head, seemingly indifferent to Qing Lan’s expression, and instead looked at the two people who followed in: "Apologies."

Mi Die and Li Sang were silent for a long time before Mi Die slowly asked, "Why are you apologizing to us?"

"I was careless this time, I didn’t expect to be attacked while disguised and going out to play," Le Yu said. "Although having dozens of people ambush was indeed unexpected, if I had let you follow, I wouldn’t have nearly lost my life."

Mi Die and Li Sang still didn’t speak, or rather, they didn’t know what to say—they understood the reason for Le Yu’s apology, even if it had nothing to do with them, but if the Jing family’s eldest young master met with trouble, they wouldn’t escape punishment.

This sort of thing has happened before; besides making up and covering up, they can’t do anything else, not even rebuke or complain. The master-servant relationship—if the emperor at least considers the ministers’ feelings, then the Silver Blood master undeniably considers the servants’ feelings.

Just like loyal ministers live to serve the emperor even to death, servants naturally live to take the fall for their masters.

So when they heard Le Yu apologizing for this reason, they didn’t know how to respond.

"Li Sang, go to Jing Garden and inform the Patriarch about my encounter," Le Yu said. "Let the Jing Family pressure the Silver Blood Association; someone crossed the line this time, and the Silver Blood Association must provide an explanation."

"Mi Die, take some money to find the Chief Steward of the Ting Family Chamber of Commerce, and have him customize a short-barreled double-magazine shotgun for me, and buy a batch of mother-child bullets."

The two nodded in agreement and left.

Le Yu exhaled lightly, looking at Qing Lan: "How’s the newspaper?"

"The ’Knowledge Discussion Zone’ has received a few submissions, but I don’t think they meet your requirements, Young Master, so I sent them back for rewriting," Qing Lan said. "Either the wording is too ornate, or it’s too scholarly and full of quotes, almost none match the character settings."

"It’s normal; they’re not accustomed yet, can’t shed their old writing style," Le Yu laughed. "I’m not expecting their drafts to be perfect. I’ll go there again tomorrow to demonstrate how to craft ’Knowledge Discussions,’ ’Bizarre Tidbits,’ and ’Inspiring Stories’—these have formulas; once learned, it’s quite simple. Like when someone arrives in Yanjing and just alighted from the train..."

"Young Master, you really have a lot of creative ideas," Qing Lan glanced at the desk. "That serialized novel, is that what you’ve been writing these days?"

"Yes, do you find it interesting?"

"Quite interesting, but..." Qing Lan tilted her head: "There are many things I can’t understand—elevators, cell phones, computers... I recognize every word, but I can’t imagine how a small box the size of a palm can transmit sound over miles, play music, or even show past scenes..."

"Liu Yu, Yin Yin, and Wei Zheng didn’t understand at first either, but they had to integrate into the future world to survive," Le Yu thought for a moment: "Oh, Qing Lan, can you draw? Since readers can’t imagine, I can create some illustrations for them!"

This way, illustrations take up a portion of the newspaper, reducing the amount of serialized text Le Yu needs to write!

"I can draw... but isn’t Mr. Lu more professional than me?"

"Oh, he’s busy drawing those color illustrations; don’t bother him with these little things," Le Yu said excitedly. "You take a piece of paper and use a charcoal pencil to draw; I’ll describe it, and you draw. Hmm, let’s start with something simple—the three-view diagram of an Apple phone!"

Seeing the Young Master suddenly excited, Qing Lan sat at the desk, pulled out a piece of white paper, and began to draw. Following the Young Master’s instructions, she used a ruler to draw straight lines and outlined a rectangular strange machine.

She suddenly asked: "By the way, Young Master, are you going to play cards at the Battle Card pavilion in the morning?"

"Yes," Le Yu said. "Draw a bitten apple in the center of the back view, yes, it’s bitten on the right side."

"Can you teach me how to play Battle Cards?"

Le Yu blinked: "Are you serious?"

"Of course I’m serious," Qing Lan nodded emphatically.

Upon hearing this, Le Yu became enthusiastic: "Then stop drawing; bring those three big stacks of Battle Cards over, and I’ll start introducing how to play Battle Cards. There are eighteen factions and three basic card types..."